LA VENGANZA DEL AGUA, by José Luis Hurtado Ruelas
The most recent album of Costa Rican composer Susan Campos-Fonseca, La venganza del agua (IGM, 2022), contains six works of various instrumental forces, performed by the composer herself and a varied group of wonderful musicians.
Despite the fact that each work describes a different sound scene, predominantly dictated by its distinct instrumental combination and its consequent timbral nature, there are characteristics that already speak of a composer with a clearly distinguishable presence.
Review by José Luis Hurtado Ruelas, PhD.
Kä Nague
by José Pablo Ureña (2022).
A continuous music, which breathes well, whose movement is the result of dynamic contrast in combination with the different and constant reappearances of careful timbral fusions. In the space, the objects exchange roles constantly. They move back and forth, leading or supporting, sometimes proposing and sometimes responding, sometimes taking the initiative and sometimes waiting. Such objects are hyperactive and do not stay in one place. We hear them walking, getting lost, or merging with other objects. They are heard reacting, uncontrollably, leaving us incomplete. On the other hand, tones are one of the main elements of stability. The intervalic relationships are recurrent and the melodic motifs become an axis that, however, is constantly regenerated. The beauty lies in the subtlety of the permanent, the static, the minimum number of actors, the economics of the materials and their implicit potential.
Composer Susan Campos - Fonseca
Photo by Julián De La Chica
The music of Campos-Fonseca has a sound with a lot of intention, that whispers in your ear and takes your hand in order to make you feel safe but nevertheless, constantly surprises you. It is the kind of music that you trust immediately and it does not dissapoint you. Transparent, narrative, almost improvisatory in nature, the experience of listening to Campos-Fonseca's music is ritualistic and theatrical.
Campos-Fonseca is not interested in what is in fashion. Her music does not respond to styles, schools or techniques. Without a doubt, she is one of the most uninhibited voices I have heard recently.
The endings are absent, we are simply running out of time. I keep waiting... as if uncertainty were part of the game.
José-Luis Hurtado Ruelas, PhD.
Composer and pianist